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Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Karma at Northampton County's Jail

"He's got a boner 4 me," says Yedlosky
on her Facebook page

Remember Jason Rosati? He was a lieutenant at the NorCo jail who got fired. He ran no contraband ring. No one caught him sneaking in drugs or women. His offense was much more serious. A veteran and admitted hard ass, he insisted that the uniform policy be followed. Even female corrections officers reputed to be snitches for Acting Administrator Cathy Allen. He was escorted out of the jail for enforcing the uniform policy against corrections officer Kim Yedlosky. Well guess what? Today, Kim Yedlosky herself was fired, according to sources at the jail. Rosati had been right.

Rosati appealed his termination, and after one night of testimony, the writing was on the wall. He was poised to get his job back. But after a few months away from the jail, he found he was making a lot more money as a plumber, and was a lot happier cleaning shit out of pipes. I'm surprised I haven't seen him since I load the shit into pipes myself. Anyway, he took a cash payout.

During his testimony, we learned that Rosati is a decorated Navy veteran who served for five years as a Seabee and participated in Desert Storm. He admitted he's a "stickler for details" who holds corrections officers to a "higher standard." He enforces the uniform policy. "It starts there," he explained. "Pride in your uniform. Pride in your job."

Who could possibly think this personhas trouble following rules?

Who is Kim Yedlosky?

In stark contrast to by-the-book Rosati, there's a corrections officer at the jail named Kim Yedlosky. She's more of a free spirit, is excitable and made Secret Service agents very nervous when Vice President Biden visited The Blue in 2010. She even began to taunt them until a fellow tea partier settled her down.

Over the years, Rosati and Yedlosky had a number of confrontations over her disregard for the uniform policy and Rosati's insistence that it be followed. He has written her up several times.

Who is Cathy Allen?

She sat in on Rosati's hearing and is the Acting Administrator. She is a high school grad who ran a two-person office and has no experience in County government. Though she has no supervisory authority there, she asserted herself at the jail, and even moved between 60 and 80 files to the Executive's Office. She began reviewing old discipline reports and actually wanted to discipline some officers a second time for old offenses until then HR Director Pat Siemiontkowski educated her on this little thing called double jeopardy.

Was Yedlosky a Cathy Allen Snitch?

That's what Rosati's attorney, Pat Reilly, argued during his termination hearing. . Operations Manager Alfie Crivellaro (since retired) said that Yedlosky let it be known throughout the jail that she has a relationship with Allen. Though he denied ever hearing her referred to as a snitch, he testified that Yedlosky may believe she is protected.

According to Rosati, other supervisors are afraid of her, and call her Teflon Kim because nothing ever sticks. "She makes it known that Miss Allen supports her. They are afraid."

Rosati also testified that Yedlosky approached corrections officer Troy Frey and threatened that unless he provided her with dirt on Rosati, she was going to see that Frey was fired. She was disciplined after that confrontation, according to both Rosati and Crivellaro

Rosati Disciplines Yedlosky

On January 7, 2015, Yedlosky came to work with her top three shirt buttons left open, exposing a V-neck T-shirt and a choker necklace. Those may not be worn while on duty. Rosati told Yedlosky to button her blouse and she ignored him. When he checked later, her shirt was still unbuttoned. As a result, Rosati wrote up the incident and forwarded the matter to Captain David Collins for approval, and he got it.

He explained his reasoning.

"If she can't be counted on to tie her shoes, how can I count on her when she needs to go into a cell to protect another officer?"

Rosati Fired For Enforcing Uniform Policy

Two days later, Al Crivellaro told Rosati that he was withdrawing the discipline because it is not enforced evenly. Things snowballed and Rosati found himself on the outside, looking in.

Karma

At the time that Rosati was terminated, Corrections Director Dan Keen had just come aboard. HR Director Amy Trapp was still in the private sector. He was visibly stunned and unhappy after Rosati's hearing.

Since that time and the arrival of Amy Trapp, he's run a very tight ship, both with jail administrators and correction officers. He fired a corrections officer I callMadame X, who hid her days as a stripper and druggie at the time of her hire. Thejail's investigatoris under investigation himself. And yesterday, Kim Yedlosky was fired for the same kind of behavior that resulted in Rosati's attempt to discipline her.

In his letter informing Yedlosky of her termination, Keen makes clear that "it is my intention to maintain the integrity of our code of ethics providing [the jail] and its employees with a means to ensure its efficient and effective operations."

Yedlosky's termination follows what is known as a Loudermill hearing on July 28, in which she was provided with due process. The Loudermill notice indicates that Yedlosky was insubordinate, refused mandatory overtime, refused to render assistance, refused to do assigned work or was insolent about it, engaged in indecent behavior, treated others in a discourteous and unprofessional manner and engaged in gross misconduct.

Go figure.

As an AFSCME union member, Yedlosky can grieve her termination.

Maybe she can ask Jason Rosati to testify for her. Or the officer she allegedly threatened.

26 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Good for Keen and Trapp! They are trying to bring integrity to the DOC cesspool. Allen is a corrupt meddler and a fraud. Norco taxpayers should be furious that she has the power, and makes the kind of money she has screwed the county for. The sooner that Brown and his evil sidekick Allen are tossed from their jobs, the better.

Brown, via his personal puppet Cathy Allen, proliferated this CO's conduct and protected her until they could no more! This isn't about improving the Corrections Department, it's about using a POS informant until the informant's information dried up and produced no erstwhile skinny on current CO's. This corrosive and manipulative style of management endorsed by Brown/Allen will end with a defeat at the poles. Hopefully then, the people of NC can start on their supporters on council.

I worked with both Jason and Kim. Jason was demanding - but he was just as demanding of himself as he was of his fellow Lieutenants and officers. A stickler, he offended many of his former friends on day-shift when he became a LT, by stepping up and enforcing the rules. Some say it was hypocritical because of some of the grab-ass games he pulled as an officer, but who knows better how to fix what's broken???

In corrections there is a saying that you treat people fairly, firmly and consistently. You give respect to get respect. As big of a pain as Jason could be, he stuck to those rules day in and day out. Officers who felt singled out, generally brought it on themselves by not respecting the chain of command and simply doing what they were told to do.